Michigan

Temporary site could become permanent

A year ago you could have predicted two things about Top of the Park's relocation to East Washington Street at the University of Michigan's Ingalls Mall:

Alan Warren / The Ann Arbor News Sari Brown of Ann Arbor dances to the music of Salmagundi during the opening night of Top of the Park. "This is my favorite time of the year," Brown said. "It's magic. A little town that comes out of nowhere."

• Patrons would love it.

• U-M would push to return the Ann Arbor Summer Festival's free music and movie program to its longtime home atop a nearby parking deck as soon as the construction that prompted the move was completed.

Well, the first forecast was spot on.

"I love it - the grass, the fountain, the shade,'' says Ann Arbor native Lisa Keefauver, who with her husband, Eric, and daughter, Lily, was among the hundreds who convened Friday for the first of 24 evenings of entertainment and socializing.

Forecast No. 2 is another matter.

U-M officials were so antsy about the public treading on the grounds of their public university last year that they had the nonprofit festival set aside $8,000 to repair any turf damage. But, it seems, their nerves have settled.

Michigan is open to making the change permanent.

That's assuming the impact on university facilities remains minimal, says Jim Kosteva, director of community relations for U-M and a member of the Summer Festival board.

But there's a rub: Staging the program on Washington Street is more expensive than using the parking deck that gave the popular program its name. And in an economic climate that's weakened support for arts and cultural programs, organizers are cautious.

"As much as we love the location, the No. 1 priority is maintaining financial stability,'' says Robb Woulfe, executive director of the town-gown organization that produces the program as part of the Ann Arbor Summer Festival.

The festival, if you're newly arrived in town, also includes ticketed performances at

U-M's Power Center and other venues. Top of the Park was created as an adjunct to those performances, but now draws some 60,000 people a season.

The question is how many of them - of us - are ready to chip in a little more generously.

Fundraising at the event has traditionally been low-key. But, after comparing the soft sell to other free festivals, organizers decided to pass the hat almost a dozen times last year and collected $10,000.

"We'll contribute and I think a lot more families will,'' says Ann Arbor resident Mattie O'Brien, who enjoyed the picture perfect evening with three sons, 15, 10 and 8. "It's so much better than the parking structure.''

You can count the Keefauvers in, too.

"I'll donate,'' says Lisa. "We'll be here several times.''

Faced with the loss of an annual gift of $30,000 from the departing Pfizer, and pressure from the state's generally weak economy, the festival has taken steps to trim expenses. Fewer artists playing longer sets, for example.

And there are certainly other opportunities to reduce costs. (Does the city, a partner in the event, really need to charge the festival to set up street barricades?)

Still, Woulfe says, "the future is a big unknown.''

Festival officials won't make a decision about TOP's future location until late summer or early fall.

In the meantime, remember that - even though U-M donates $30,000 a year to the festival - the university charged $500 to repair grass in a couple of heavy traffic areas last year.